Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
by Ten-Faced
Summary: "Hattori-kun? Conan-kun? ...and a murder. Of course. I should have known. Why do you two leave your houses?" "It's not our faults!" "I'm sure the murdered singer will be pleased to know that." In which Heiji and Shinichi must solve a murder and clear the name of a visiting phantom thief. Hints of KazuHei and ShinRan.
1. Gathering Songbirds

**Swing Low, Sweet Chariot**

**Summary**: "Hattori-kun? Conan-kun? ...and a murder. Of course. I should have known. Why do you two leave your houses?" "It's not our faults!" "I'm sure the murdered singer will be pleased to know that." In which Heiji and Shinichi must solve a murder and clear the name of a visiting phantom thief.

**Pairings**: Hints of Heiji/Kazuha, Shinichi/Ran, and some others.

**A/N:** I own nothing except Anna Wong, Anika Roth, Lady A, Samuel Lewis, Sara Hamilton and Jose Lopez. Bolded words are English. Name comes from the famous choir/rugby song. Also, I write/call Kudo Shinichi/Edogawa Conan Shinichi in this fic - and most likely all of my other fics in the series - but he's still mini. Until I make Ai give him the antidote, anyways. Thanks for warning me, crimsonskyr!

EDIT:(15/02/2013) Fixed grammar errors, comma overuse, and other things. Thank you, mountainelements!

* * *

"Da-_ad_!" Mouri Ran tried to not sound like a whiny, impatient kid, but it was becoming increasingly difficult as her father refused to come out. "Hurry!"

The bathroom door opened, just a crack, allowing Ran to catch the glimpse of her father's annoyed face. "Wait your turn. I need to look good for this party. Yoko-chan will be there, and she's going to be a guest star at the performance!"

"Ran-neechan, I'm done!" Edogawa Conan, the false identity of Kudo Shinichi, decided to play up all the young charms of his currently-seven year old self.

It worked as a suitable distraction. Ran immediately turned on him, checking for loose strands, wrinkles, stains, or anything else that might have made his appearance less than perfect. "You're good, Conan-kun!" she announced after her inspection of his dress was complete.

_I could have told you that myself,_ he thought, but kept silent. She didn't know he was actually her best friend, anyways.

Ran herself was dressed nicely, in a green cocktail dress she had borrowed from her friend Sonoko. Her hair was its usual loose and long self, but she had put on some pearl earrings and a bracelet, as well as some perfume. Like this, it was hard to imagine her as a karate champion instead of an heiress or actress, ready to go to a party.

"I'm sorry you can't take some of your friends, Conan-kun," Ran told him, straightening her dress for the millionth time while she waited for her father to hurry. "But at least Hattori-kun will be there!"

Hattori Heiji was another high school detective, and one that was his close friend. He also knew his secret, and had an unfortunate habit of calling him 'Kudo' in public. Conan made a mental note to kick him should the dark-skinned Osakan choose to do that today.

The party, or rather, the Opening Celebration they were going to was to do some kind of ribbon-cutting ceremony for the first Club A to open in Japan. Of course, it was to be in Beika, and Mouri Kogoro, having been a rising name in detectives nowadays, had been invited, family included. 'Edogawa Conan' wasn't family in the strictest sense, but he was freeloading on them, and since he was young enough he had been allowed to come along.

Club A was a chain of clubs that had an interesting backstory. He had done some research on the establishments, and the owner of the chain restaurants had apparently been a part of some youth singing group in Canada eight years ago. Called 'Songs for the Heart', they had been lucky enough to catch the attention of a mysterious rich benefactor who helped them by donating huge amounts of money to all the charities they sang for. The singing group, then composed of high school kids, had sent a thank you card as well as a request to meet them all in person. The person had agreed to do so and booked a small café for the meeting.

The class had gone to the café with a huge homemade thank you card, fruit baskets, and bouquets of flowers, where they were met with the knowledge that their benefactor had been an internationally wanted thief dressed in a Victorian-style dress. A _phantom_ thief, who went by the name of Lady A. She had popped out of nowhere – or wherever Phantom Thieves popped out of – nine years ago, shortly before Kaitou Kid had gone on his long hiatus. Kind of like Kaitou Kid, she went around stealing things with the golden rule of 'No one gets hurt'. She was lacking in popularity because she didn't perform heists in public like Kid did (then again, Kid was in a category of his own) but she was known for organizing the return of the things she stole in events held for charity, where the audience would decide the price of the stolen good and the former owner would either pay or never see their precious item again. All proceeds went to the very same charity it had been resold at. Most of her popularity came from her 'Steal from the Rich, Give to the Poor' ways.

(Shinichi personally thought Kaitou Kid had the better name. Lady A? Really?)

Long story short, while the teenagers had gawked at meeting the famous thief in person, _she_ thanked _them_ for all the efforts they were putting in to make the world a better place – the charity had been for abused women – and told them to keep up the good job. Then, she left before any of them could think to call the cops.

From then on, for almost all the charity events these kids sang for, Lady A went and not only dropped in her large donations but held many her charity return heists there. Lots of the singing teens grew up to be famous musicians. One of them, a daughter of the head of some rich financial group or another, had decided to open a club and dedicate the name to the lady thief who had helped in their youth. It had become immensely popular, and they now had Club A establishments in sixteen countries. Japan would be the seventeenth.

There were lots of rumours going around about the opening ceremony, like the baseless rumour that Kaitou Kid would crash the party and rob all of the celebrities there. Another unfounded but popular rumour was that Lady A herself would be coming to the opening gala, but there hadn't been a notice of her charity returns, so he thought the chances were unlikely. About as unlikely as there being two internationally wanted pacifist thieves in the country, in the _same area_. _About as unlikely as him ever running into a cleverly-disguised murder_. It wasn't like such things happened to him on a daily basis. No, it was more weekly.

Shinichi rubbed the nose of his shrunken nose. He was becoming really cynical. He blamed Haibara's influence.

Call it paranoia, call it detective's intuition. . . but he just knew that he had to get to that party. It could have been the chance to put an International Criminal behind bars (for once), or the possibility (low as it was) of Kaitou Kid being there. There was, of course, the promise that a lot of famous and/or influential people would be there, all eager to be a possible part of Lady A's Japanese debut. Seeing just how many of the well-known people he had managed to run into had been revealed to be a part of the Organization responsible for his shrunken state, he knew there was an excellent chance for one of Them to be there. He would have to keep his eyes and ears open, be invisible in the way only children could be, and cross his fingers for luck to get a desperately needed lead on them.

Oh, and depend on Haibara's sixth-sense for the Black Organization, because she was going too. Apparently, the owner of the chain establishment really liked the professor's inventions, and Ai had managed to charm the woman while she had been in the professor's house.

He still didn't understand, and had a feeling he didn't want to.

The man famous for sleeping while solving seemingly impossible cases finally stepped out of the washroom, dressed in a grey suit. "How do I look?"

"Like someone late to a party!" Ran grabbed her father's arm and began to drag him out, ignoring protests and yelps of pain. "Come on!"

Shinichi followed. And, of course, there was one more reason as to why he was going to the party.

One of the distinguished guests was a very famous novelist known all around the world for the Night Baron.

* * *

"Kazuha!"

"Ran!"

Ran was already with her friend from Osaka, talking a mile a minute with each other. And if Toyama Kazuha was here, then chances were-

"Yo, Ku-Conan-kun!"

Shinichi avoided the urge to kick the dark-skinned boy, and instead made his voice as childish and as un-Shinichi-like as possible. "Hi, Heiji-niichan!" he gave a very forced smile to the teenager who had respected the dress code enough to wear a suit, but had also chosen to leave his baseball hat on. They didn't go very well together, but he probably wouldn't leave the hat behind.

He was still going to get kicked, Shinichi promised himself. Just not in front of Ran.

"How've ya been, kiddo?" Heiji asked, bending down to ruffle his hair. Making sure his face wasn't visible to Ran, Shinichi gave him a death glare he had learnt from Haibara herself. "Still a secret, huh?"

"Of course it is!" he hissed while dragging the currently-taller boy to the buffet table. A split-second glance at the spread allowed him to see just how fancy Club A could be. "I told you over the phone, _They_ could be here!"

Heiji glanced around the room, where colors of the women's dresses stood out brightly against the mostly-black tuxedoes of men. "Yeah, they could, huh?"

Shinichi reached to grab a small plate, and began to fill it with food that he could reach. "I hate being short," he muttered gloomily.

The Detective of the West was piling food onto his plate. "It's a pretty international spread here," he commented. "But then again, th' club's from Canada. 'S pretty multicultural there."

"That's right!" a woman popped out of nowhere, giving Shinichi a heart attack and nearly making Heiji drop his plate. "And the food is our way of saying that everyone is welcome!"

Heiji put the undropped and unbroken plate back on the table, and extended a hand, while Shinichi studied her. Tall, Caucasian, bright red hair, green eyes, black dress. . . .

But she spoke Japanese surprisingly well. There were the barest hints of an accent there. That, and her choice of color in dress made him put her on the list of possible BO members, even if she seemed just too ridiculously happy to be in a murderous syndicate.

The woman took Heiji's hand and pumped in enthusiastically. "Hello!" she beamed. "You must be Hattori Heiji, the famous detective!"

"I am," Heiji grinned back. "So I take it that ya heard o' me, then?"

"Of course!" the woman pushed her hair back behind her ear, and Shinichi saw the twinkle of small emeralds before her hair fell again. "I'm a fan!"

"Is that so?" the grin on his face was becoming bigger, and Shinichi would have sworn that his head was inflating with sheer ego.

Time to stop that. "Is neechan the owner of Club A?" he asked sweetly, already guessing the answer.

The redhead turned to properly see 'Conan' for the first time. "**Oh my god**, you are _adorable_! Even cuter in real life than on screen!" she exclaimed, slipping into English for the first part of her sentence. She promptly enveloped 'Conan' in a huge rib-bruising hug that left him gasping for oxygen. "Yes, I am! My name's Anika Roth. You're Edogawa Conan, yes?"

His suspicious radar pinged. "You know me?"

"Of course!" she leaned down with a slightly sheepish expression. "Don't tell anyone here about this, but I'm also a Kid fan, and I see you all the time in recent heist news."

That, he had not expected, but now that he thought about it. . . what if the BO recognized him from all the Kid heists he attended? God knew he made the front pages often enough because of it.

"Why can't I tell anyone neechan's a Kid fan?" he asked anyways, playing the curious kid. Well, he might as well just show the world that sometimes, the innocent, never-ending curiosity of a child could foil even the greatest plans.

Anika Roth looked around, seriously looking for listeners. "Because almost everyone here loves Lady A," she whispered. "Oh, don't worry, I like her too, but some of the people here are really hardcore, to the point where they think that Lady A should be the only famous thief. Just last week, Anna and Sara had a huge fight over it all."

"Anna Wong and Sara Hamilton?" Heiji guessed. "Th' two from th' International Coed Choral Group?"

Anika nodded enthusiastically. "Anna was actually one of the students in the original Songs from the Heart, like I was," she smiled. "She always was a great singer. . . . And now she's getting what she deserves."

"Two of ya are friends?"

"Very good friends. She always sings for a gala opening, free of charge! Although, I think that's mostly for Lady A."

"She's one of the hardcore fans?" Heiji began to eat, and Anika passed him a plate well-stocked with good food. It was almost freaky how she had picked the ones he liked, but the smell was absolutely divine. He dug in while she answered.

"Yeah, she is. Anna came from a poor family, so she never expected to go to a good university even if she was good at studying and singing. Actually, I think Anna was good at everything she did. But even so, she just couldn't afford university even with full scholarships, so she was just thinking of giving up and getting married early when Lady A began her Annual Ace Scholarships."

Right. Steal from the rich, give to the poor. Lady A's sacred motto, or the website had said. One of the things she liked to do was help poor students get a chance to go to a good school by financing their education.

**"Anika, you're talking about me again, aren't you?"**

Conan turned to see a short woman of Asian descent standing with her arms crossed and a bemused expression on her face. Her English sounded perfectly American, although considering the amount of people in here from a certain large northern country it could have just as easily been Canadian-accented.

**"Of course,"** Anika replied before she remembered her manners. **"Oh, sorry. **Heiji, Conan, this is Anna Wong, my good friend and one of the performers for tonight's gala. She can't speak Japanese so I'll be one of her translators."

Anna gave them a friendly smile, and held up her hand to show the small paper bracelet on her wrist. 'I can't speak Japanese' was in bold black letters across the paper.

**"Nice to meet you,"** Heiji shook Anna's hand. Neither she nor Anika didn't show any surprise at his remarkably-good English. **"I'm Hat-_Heiji_ Hattori. This little boy here's Conan Edogawa."**

**"Nice to meet you!"** he greeted.

Anna Wong smiled down at him, and then turned to Anika, face twitching with slight annoyance. **"Sara's throwing a tantrum again,"** she muttered in a low voice. **"Sam looks like he's ready to murder her, and Jose had to leave before he could lose his temper."**

Shinichi's – and without looking, he knew his friend's had as well – ears perked at the word 'murder' before the rest of the sentence was digested. Oh. Just some woman pissing her coworkers off, if 'Sam' and Jose were really who he thought they were.

Anika made a face. "Sorry, I have to go," she beamed and waved enthusiastically. Who was the kid here? "I'll see you! Enjoy the night!"

And then she was gone in a whirlwind of red hair and black silk. Anna followed, leaving more quietly and calmly.

Heiji took a bite out of his samosa. "I don't know 'bout ya, Kudo," he mumbled around his mouthful of food. "But I'm getting a bad feelin' about tonight."

"You've jinxed us," Shinichi grumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets.


	2. A Blonde, A Brunette, And A Redhead

**Swing Low, Sweet Chariot**

**Summary**: "Hattori-kun? Conan-kun? ...and a murder. Of course. I should have known. Why do you two leave your houses?" "It's not our faults!" "I'm sure the murdered singer will be pleased to know that." In which Heiji and Shinichi must solve a murder and clear the name of a visiting phantom thief.

**Pairings**: Hints of Heiji/Kazuha, Shinichi/Ran, and some others.

**A/N:** I own nothing except Anna Wong, Anika Roth, Lady A, Samuel Lewis, Sara Hamilton and Jose Lopez. Bolded words are English. Name comes from the famous choir/rugby song. Also, I write/call Kudo Shinichi/Edogawa Conan Shinichi in this fic - and most likely all of my other fics in the series - but he's still mini. Until I make Ai give him the antidote, anyways. Thanks for warning me, crimsonskyr!

EDIT:(15/02/2013) Fixed grammar errors, comma overuse, and other things. Thank you, mountainelements!

* * *

They found Jose a short while after Anika and Anna left them. Or rather, Jose, a slightly short man who was slightly thick and bulky, wandered towards them and began to rant quietly to himself, not caring if a few Japanese kids got the impression that he was insane.

**"Stupid woman, thinking she's such a,"** he paused here to drain his cup of amber liquid. He slammed the crystal cup down on the table, and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.** "Such a-"** and then he began to speak Spanish instead, but judging from his fierce expression and heated voice, he wasn't complimenting the woman.

"Left handed, though he's pretty flexible with his right. He's the bass of tonight's performance, and I recognize him to be Jose Lopez of the ICCP. He was also one of the original members of 'Songs from the Heart'," Shinichi muttered. "He's having some tough times, but he's freshened up enough to come for the gala. It means a lot to him, obviously. He's also trying to look taller than he really is."

Shinichi waited, but Heiji didn't add anything to that. When he finally looked back to see what was keeping the dark-skinned boy from adding on his own deductions, he made a face that was perfectly at home with his childish looks.

"Hattori, stop glaring at the man," he sighed. "It's not like he's even touching Kazuha-chan."

"He's annoyin' my follower," Heiji growled, tugging on his cap. "He's irritatin' _me_."

And then he stormed over to them. Shinichi sighed, and went after him, his 'Conan' mask slipping on into place.

Bickering, a few rounds of insulting with rather limited vocabulary and some kind of calm-down period later, the annoying man who had been hitting on Kazuha was identified as one of Anika's fellow Songs from the Heart singers, one Mr. Samuel Lewis, tenor, who went by Sam to his friends and 'the lovely ladies, though they could call him whatever they wanted'. That had been a direct quote.

He was also one of the night's performers – a main one - which meant that unless they wanted to ruin the night for everyone, Heiji couldn't do something drastic to ensure he never came within twenty feet of Kazuha.

Shinichi began to find that fact rather regrettable when the tenor blonde began to hit on Ran.

Still, there were some things interesting about Lewis-san. For example, he spoke excellent Japanese, and was in black formal wear with a charcoal grey shirt. Lewis was also clearly fit, his muscles showing even through the dress shirt, and there was definitely something suspicious in the way he was acting.

The flirting with high school girls, maybe?

Shinichi got rid of that thought, and added him to the list of possible B.O members. As a detective, personal feelings should not have gotten in the way, but he was really, really annoying him.

Almost as annoying as the newest guest. "Ran!"

"Sonoko!"

He got out of there as fast as he could.

* * *

**"So, Anna, what does it feel like to be back at home?"**

Shinichi paused outside the door of the dressing room. He knew it was terribly rude of him to eavesdrop, but hey, he was in the body of a seven-year old. If anyone ever caught him, he'd feign ignorance.

Just to be safe, though, he put his glasses on the ground and got on his knees. The excuse would be that he had dropped his glasses and was trying to find them in the darkness while they were camouflaged against the black carpet.

**"I'm Canadian,"** Anna's voice was cold, but it was calm and under control. Rather like the ocean up in the Arctic, he thought. **"And of Chinese descent. This is _Japan_. Even _you_ should have been able to figure that out, Sara." **

**"Anna,"** a third voice sighed, wary and tired as if she'd been through all this before. He peeked in through the crack of the door, and recognized the fiery red of Anika Roth's hair. **"Please. Don't."**

**"No, no, let her let it all out,"** Sara hummed. **"I'm sure she's stressed enough. Too much work, not enough fun, and to top it all off, she probably hasn't seen her idol for a long time now."**

** "Unlike you,"** now, Anna's voice was frigid. **"I don't consider singing as 'work'. Nor do I consider having a new boyfriend every week 'fun'."**

**"Oh, that's right,"** Shinichi could practically hear the sneer in her voice. **"I forgot; you don't swing that way. Sorry for forgetting your crush on the thief woman."**

**"_Sara_!"**

**"Wow, implying that I'm not only gay, but have a crush on Lady A. How original of you. It's not like you've told me that five times already."**

**"Anna, please."**

**"Anika, shut up. I don't care what you say about getting down and dirty, this woman is seriously stepping too far."**

**"At least I've got talent. What have you got? Some pathetic fame all thanks to a thief who has absolutely no style."**

**"Stop it!" **there was the sound of glass breaking, and a hiss of pain.

**"Anika!"** Anna's voice was chiding. **"Be careful!"**

**"Yes,"** Sara's voice was bored now. **"Heaven forbid the little heiress get hurt because she accidently smashed a wineglass in her grip."**

**"Alright, you know what? You've been this haughty, stuck-up diva drama queen since you've-"**

Footsteps, slow and heavy, were coming from behind. Shinichi waited, and then reached out, picking up his glasses with a joyful cry.

"Excuse me," the man behind him rumbled in heavily accented Japanese before knocking on the door. **"Miss Roth?"**

Anika darted up to the door and opened it. Shinichi snuck a look in and recognized a stormy-faced Anna and a bored blonde who sat sipping something that looked like orange juice from a champagne flute. She was, he noticed, wearing a black dress.

When was Haibara going to be here?

**"Yes?"** she asked, not having noticed him yet.

**"Mr. Yusaku Kudo won't be able to make it. He says**," the man's lips twitched in amusement. **"He called over the phone, and he says that he was ambushed at the airport by a mad horde of editors."**

Shinichi couldn't help the wave of disappointment going through his body. It must have been a pretty large amount of editors.

Wait. But how did they find out about his dad returning to Japan? Kudo Yusaku was one of the distinguished guests, but he was a 'secret guest', because he had requested his name be kept off the public list for the gala. He had found out when his mother had told him, but he doubted his mom would have told that many editors, no matter what his dad did wrong this time.

"Conan-kun?" Anika had noticed him, and was looking down at him. Her green eyes were rather bright. Unshed tears. Huh, so she was either easily affected by watching arguments, or she had excellent alligator tears. "What are you doing here?"

He gave her the cute expression, which melted her heart and got rid of her tears, and then told her in a really lengthened and childish way just how he had dropped his glasses and he had picked them up when the man had come to talk to 'Anika-neesan', and he wanted to say hi but he had to wait till they were done or it would have been really, really rude, or so Ran-neesan said.

Anika glomped him. "You're too cute!" she squealed. Actually squealed. Full volume, right next to his ear.

He wasn't going to have perfect pitch in that ear for a _long_ time.

"Who's _he_?" the blonde had also wandered over, and her expression was one of scorn. For him or Anika? Her Japanese was pretty good. Even more suspicious.

The redhead began her speech on just how this adorable child was the fearless mini-detective (he winced at the title; Kid got Moonlit Magician, the Heisei Lupin, the Last Wizard of the Century, and he got the mini-detective. Life was unfair when you were seven) who always managed to foil Kaitou Kid when the blonde scowled.

"Yeah, I remember him now," she turned that look on him, and he nearly cowered behind Anika. "Brat, just stay home. Leave the hot hunk in white alone."

She drained her drink and shoved the empty champagne flute into the man's hands. **"Put that away,"** she ordered, before re-entering the room again.

"Come on, Conan-kun," Anika took his hand. "Let's go back to the main event. It's not good to hang around backstage too much."

Before they turned the corner, he noticed Anna leaving the room with a dark expression on her face. She went the opposite way, most likely to the bathroom.

Sara didn't come out.

"Hey, Anika-neesan?"

"Yes?" the redhead looked down, face considerably brighter.

"Is Sara-san a fan of Kaitou Kid?"

Anika grinned. "She is. She actually came over to Japan when he first reappeared. I didn't know her then, but from what I hear, she began to learn Japanese when she was young just so that she could come to Japan and talk to him."

Interesting reason. "So she doesn't like Lady A?"

It was a sore point, apparently, because Anika stiffened a bit before she gave a forced smile. "No, she doesn't like Lady A," she admitted. "Lady A stole from the Hamilton family – that's Sara's last name, by the way – when she was in the United States, and her father didn't pay the ransom so they never got their jewelry back."

In his opinion that was a stupid thing to do. Why not pay the ransom? Lady A was known for being honorable, and for always returning her heists in perfect condition as long as they paid.

Maybe he just didn't want to bend to the wills of a criminal. _That_, he could understand.

"Gossiping again, Anika?" Lewis was there, leaning over and hugging the redhead. Shinichi mentally scowled at having been pushed aside by the blond man, and was toying with the idea of shooting a soccer ball to his face. "But you're talking about Hamilton, so I'll let it go this time."

"Sam," Anika sighed and flicked his nose, much to Shinichi's satisfaction. "Be nice? Please? For me? For Lady A?"

"What does the Lady have to do with this?" Lewis muttered, but he released her from the hug. "She'd probably thank me for shooting the bitch-"

"Language!" Anika looked scandalized as she reached over, just a bit too late, to cover 'Conan's' ears. "There are children present!"

. . . he hated being stuck in a seven-year old's body. He really did.

"Sorry, kiddo," Samuel Lewis grinned down at him, something he didn't return. "But seriously, why'd you invite her? She's been telling off Jose's singing, and I've been his buddy for a long time, and I've never seen him that angry. Ever."

Anika blinked. "I didn't invite her to the gala," she murmured, brushing her hair back. "Someone else requested her to sing tonight, and her name was on the guest list, so I just called her and asked. Maybe someone sent her a ticket?"

"Great," Lewis threw his hands in the air. "So there's the demon from hell – who I have to share a stage with, mind – and then there's a fan of hers here. Fantastic. Wonderful. My life is all unicorns and rainbows. I feel so happy and high, like I'm on marijuana."

Anika patted his back, and took Shinichi's hand again. "You only have to suffer two more hours, and then you can run to the bar. And how do you know what marijuana's like?" she added, suspicion etched on her face.

Lewis shook his head, wisely avoiding the second question. "She's been downing cocktails like crazy," he told her. "The bartender's saying that he hasn't made that many Mimosas in a year."

"Then you'll just have to be sober," Anika teased before leading him away. "Sara can be mean, but she's a fantastic singer. Do you like music, Conan-kun?"

Time to be a child again. Shinichi mentally braced himself for major huggling, squealing, and cheek pinching as he slipped his Conan mask on. "Uh-huh! It's really pretty, like art for your ears! Will you sing, Anika-neesan?"

"Nope," she shook her head as she snagged something from the table. "Want one? These are BeaverTails. Oh, don't worry, they're not actually tails from beavers. They're these fried dough pastries, and they're really good. There's apple and cinnamon, chocolate hazelnut, brown sugar. . . ."

He took one to be polite. "How come neechan won't sing?"

She gave a rueful smile before biting into her fried dough. "I'm not a very good singer," she admitted. "Not good enough, compared to tonight's performers."

"I'm sure neesan is very good," he told her, and bit into his beavertail. It was actually pretty good, even if the chocolate spread on the top got onto his chin.

Anika burst into another round of just how cute he was, and took a napkin before giving his face a good scrub to wipe off the chocolate. "I'm going to go yell at the performers now, so you have fun, alright?"

"Okay," he agreed, and finished off his fried dough. Interesting how a member of a singing group wouldn't sing. Maybe she really wasn't as talented as the others, but if the rumours were true. . . .

Why not sing like Lady A had requested years ago, back when they were all young? Why not be so completely devoted to Lady A like some of the other hardcore fans of hers if she had already named a chain of clubs after her? Unusual behaviour.

Anika Roth, friendly and bright as she was, was acting quite suspiciously.

* * *

Miyano Shiho, formerly eighteen and codenamed 'Sherry' in what Kudo Shinichi had fittingly dubbed the Black Organization, was tense.

Oh, never mind the fact that at the moment, she was Haibara Ai, a young girl of seven who had nothing to do with the dark organization, clutching the skirt of an older girl who resembled her dead sister.

_They_ were here.

She could feel Them. It was something she'd always been able to do, a survival sense of a sort. At the moment, the presence felt like two. Not too highly ranked, but enough, she thought, to be a member with an alcoholic codename.

Professor Agasa had been pulled away the minute they had gotten here, to talk to a bunch of people who were apparently interested in his mad inventions – why, she had no idea, but the rich people were weird – and she couldn't very well fake something to get out of there, because that could draw unwanted attention.

Where was Kudo?!

"Hey, neechan, is that th' little girl from th' professor's?" two hands encircled her waist, and she found herself lifted up into the air and facing the grinning detective from the West.

She began to plot her revenge against him immediately.

"How've ya been, kid?" he put her down – so he had some sense of self-preservation after all – and bent down. "What's wrong?"

She glanced to check if anyone could hear them. Ran and her friends were moving away from them. Good.

"I can feel Them. Here," she whispered. It was odd how she wasn't as scared. Was she too used to it? Did she just have confidence in Kudo's promise to protect her? Or was it because no one could recognize Miyano Shiho in Haibara Ai, not unless they had knowledge of APTX's side effects?

"Who?" he asked, shifting so that she would be out of sight, hidden by his body.

"I don't know," she muttered. Damn black being a formal color. At least it wasn't as bad as the time when they were having that stupid memorial thing for the dead director, but. . . .

Everyone looked like an enemy.

She was startled when something shaded her eyes. "Huh?"

It was a baseball hat. "Pretend yer a fan o' mine," he suggested, combing his fingers through his own hair to straighten it out a bit. "And act more like a kid, would ya? Relax. Yer at a party with a famous, good-looking detective-"

Ai went right back to shooting a deadpan look at him. He ignored it. Kudo had said he was dense, but this was just-

"-and yer excited. Great food, pretty dresses, and it's all fun and grown-up," his grin got impossibly wider. "Can ya do that?"

Of course she could. Her survival was on the line here! She settled for giving a curt nod, and pulled the hat's rim lower across her face. If anyone asked, she'd be pretending to be solving a case, just like 'Heiji-niichan' would always do. Turn up the sugary voice and act all cute like Kudo-kun did in front of policemen that weren't used to him.

By the end of this, she had a feeling she would be a severe diabetic.

"Just point them out when ya figure out who they are."

She took a deep breath and began to try and distinguish that 'scent' from all the other people.


	3. Silenced Songbird

**Swing Low, Sweet Chariot**

**Summary**: "Hattori-kun? Conan-kun? ...and a murder. Of course. I should have known. Why do you two leave your houses?" "It's not our faults!" "I'm sure the murdered singer will be pleased to know that." In which Heiji and Shinichi must solve a murder and clear the name of a visiting phantom thief.

**Pairings**: Hints of Heiji/Kazuha, Shinichi/Ran, and some others.

**A/N:** I own nothing except Anna Wong, Anika Roth, Lady A, Samuel Lewis, Sara Hamilton and Jose Lopez. Bolded words are English. Name comes from the famous choir/rugby song. Also, I write/call Kudo Shinichi/Edogawa Conan Shinichi in this fic - and most likely all of my other fics in the series - but he's still mini. Until I make Ai give him the antidote, anyways. Thanks for warning me, crimsonskyr!

* * *

The lights, dark enough already, dimmed even further, till everyone was surrounded by darkness. A spotlight was turned on, and the beam of light focused onto the stage where Anika stood, smiling widely. "Good evening, everyone!" she beamed. "I'm Anika Roth, owner of the Club A chain, and I'd like to thank you all for taking the time out of your busy lives to come to tonight's gala!"

Shinichi crossed his arms. Her words were flowing with the polish of countless practice. She really must have wanted to make this a special, perfect night.

He began to look around. While everyone was focused on her, he could find Haibara and/or Hattori. Where were they?

Anika was now telling the story of Songs from the Heart, and a few pictures were being shown in a slideshow. Teens goofing off, smiling, singing on stage, caroling, collecting food items. . . .

And then, his attention was drawn by one particular photograph where the entire group was gawking at a woman dressed like something from two hundred years ago, with full skirt, bustle, parasol, and veiled hat. Under the hat, blond ringlets were perfectly visible, but the veil was really thick, hiding the top half of her face effectively. She was smiling, the smile of someone who knew a great secret that no one else knew, and found it terribly amusing. It must have been the trademark of all phantom thieves. One rare picture of the Phantom Lady had the exact same smile, and he'd seen Kaitou Kid grinning like that many times as he pulled off his heists in public.

Lady A in all her glory.

Come to think about it, she kind of looked like Chris Vineyard in southern bell wear. Just a bit blonder than Vermouth actually was.

"This is a picture Lady A sent to us after our first encounter," Anika gestured as she continued to talk into the mike. "She told us she had a hidden camera there, and sent us an additional two thousand dollars for Empowering Women. Ever since then, she's always been there, helping out and being a great support for us all.

"Inspired by that, when my father told me that I could begin my own line of whatever I wanted, the name that came to my mind was – believe it or not - actually not Club A."

Laughter. Her expression, a wrinkled nose, squinting eyes, and grimacing mouth, was quite comical with the funny tones her voice had pitched into.

"I was thinking more along the lines of 'Super Awesome Lady A Make-Up', but the marketing team politely talked me out of it. By that I mean that they called me an idiot and told me it would never work, so I had better think up a new name or go a different direction entirely. Now, I'm grateful they knocked some sense into me, but back then, I threw this huge tantrum."

He stopped paying attention when a young couple moved slightly and put the two people he'd been looking for in sight. Carefully skirting around legs, he made his way to the detective and the shrunken scientist. "You're here!"

Haibara seized his shirt, clawing some of his flesh in the process. "They're here," she hissed. Then, her face morphed into confusion as she read his face. "You knew, didn't you?" she accused.

"I guessed," he admitted. "And I was hoping to get a lead on them. Don't glare at me like that!" he added when she shot him her trademark death glare. "After Bourbon, we were getting nowhere!"

"So you put everything at risk once again. Have you forgotten about the professor and Mouri-chan being here? Fantastic choice, _Edogawa-kun,"_ she growled. Her face was twisted in a seriously scary way, like what might have been the expression of a murderess out for revenge.

Shinichi had a trump up his sleeve, though. "Don't worry; they think you're dead, remember?"

Haibara's face loosened up as she recalled that particular fact. "Oh. . . ."

"Yeah. And now, they'll never suspect _you_, when you're just a kid," he patted his pocket, where his supply of bugs sat waiting for activation. Professor Agasa had tampered with them, giving the listening and tracking devices a new self-destruct feature that could be remote-activated by his tracking glasses as long as he was within a radius of five hundred metres. He would have loved to seen one of these blowing up in Gin's face. "But we'll get _them_."

Haibara relaxed, and released his shirt – and skin. Everyone else was focused on Anika, so they turned to see her finish up her presentation, ready to let the singers take the stage. "So please welcome, for tonight's entertainment, Sara Hamilton, Anna Wong, Samuel Lewis, and Jose Lopez!"

The curtains rose, and the lights faded. For a moment, everything was wrapped in the blanket of shadows and silence. Then, a low, rich voice of an alto began to hum a single pure note. A piano somewhere joined in, and then a saxophone as another voice joined in. Tenor. Great.

The air seemed to vibrate as the bass joined in, and lights began to slowly come on, shining on the singers. . . in angel costumes.

What.

"It's a romance and supernatural thing," Hattori muttered, looking rather displeased. "I looked it up, and it's 'pparently 'bout this pure, innocent female angel falling in love with a fallen angel. Forbidden love. Romeo an' Juliet with a heavenly twist, or somethin' like that."

"Who likes junk like this?" he quietly demanded in disbelief. The bass, Jose, was obviously the fallen angel, being the only one with black feathers. Anna and Lewis were going on about the perfect angel, the one to all look up to, the pure one.

And he thought he'd been over-sugary when he was cranking up the Conan-charm. This. . . .

This was like the fantasies of every average teenage girl rolled up into feathers and angels, presented in the neatly tied-on bow called a 'musical', which made everything about a hundred times worse.

Hattori only jerked his thumb back, where the girls were silently squealing into handkerchiefs and hands at the crappy storyline. Sonoko, in particular, seemed to enjoy it immensely. Shinichi resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

_"Who?"_ Anna warbled, her voice climbing to the ranges of a powerful soprano. Shinichi thought Sara was quite the terrible person now. Anna was a very talented singer, and it wasn't thanks to some thief that she was where she was now.

_"Who?"_ Samuel sighed, acting the part of some dissatisfied angel warrior with serious ego problems. Maybe shooting a soccer ball into his face and letting the show be cancelled would have been better. It would have been more satisfying than this, anyways.

_"Who?"_ Jose boomed, dropping to his knees. He was definitely embracing his role, gladly shedding the skin of a man who had problems in his real life.

The second curtain opened to reveal. . . no one.

The audience thought it was a joke and laughed, but Shinichi noticed the stunned responses from the performers, as well as Anika slipping away, alarm on her face. That hadn't been planned.

"Hattori, follow me!"

"Right behind ya, Kudo!"

Haibara Ai made a face, and tugged the rim of her borrowed hat down further across her face. Detectives. Always running off like excited puppies at the slightest scent of mystery.

* * *

The two of them met up with Anika in the area dubbed 'backstage', near the dressing room he had eavesdropped on. Or rather, she ran into them. "Oh!" she cried out as she smashed into Hattori and tripped over Shinichi. "Sorry!"

"Nah, s'all good," he muttered. "Hey, lady, that wasn't supposed ta happen, was it? The second opening should have had Hamilton-han there."

Anika chewed her lip. "I asked the staff, but they said that Sara hadn't been backstage. Sara?" she knocked on the door. "Are you in here?"

No one answered. Anika knocked a few more times, and when there was no response, she opened the door.

And promptly let out a bloodcurdling scream before falling into a dead faint at the sight of a slumped body with a face that would most likely haunt her nightmares for years with its popping eyes and purpled skin.

Hattori was kind enough to stay behind and make sure she was alright. Leaving that to him, Shinichi carefully stepped forwards, already guessing the outcome as he approached the slumped body in the white robes and feathered wings of an angel. Sara Hamilton wasn't breathing, she had no pulse, and her body wasn't beginning to stiffen, though her fingers were colder than body temperature.

"Call the police," he ordered. "And no one comes in!" he added, shouting at the crowd that had gathered at hearing Anika's scream.

Hattori blatantly ignored his last words, and shoved his way through. "Excuse me, detective comin' through, move it, would ya?!"

From behind him, Haibara raised an eyebrow at him before melting into the crowd. Wise move, he thought. "Death by strangulation with some kind of thin, strong cord, and the blood and skin under her nails. . . . Though we won't know for sure without a test, they're most likely hers. Those wings she's wearing wouldn't have let her reach for the murderer's hands or arms so easily."

"Murder," Hattori concluded. "Hasn't been dead long, maybe 'round the time Roth-han began her speech. We'll need to check alibis for people 'round that time."

"Yeah. What was the weapon used for strangulation?" Shinichi looked around. As far as he remembered, nothing had been moved or taken, and there wasn't much to be used as something to strangle someone to death with. Not to leave a thin mark that cut into the skin like that, anyways.

"I guess it would be too much ta hope th' murderer still has it on their body," Hattori ran a hand through his hair, not having his hat to turn to the right side.

"But when it's found on them, it'll be incriminating evidence."

" 'Less someone planted it on an innocent person."

"We'll know when we investigate fur-"

"Conan-kun!"

He winced. "It's Ran, isn't it?" he whispered as he felt the angry presence storm up to him.

Hattori nodded, face sympathetic.

A harsh scolding later, he was pulled out of the murder scene with a sheepish Hattori – who was yelled at by Kazuha – and the door to the dressing room was closed. "No one goes in til the police comes!" Heiji yelled.

Kazuha hit him. "Like ya even have the right ta say that."

"Don't hit me, ya idiot!"

"Yer th' idiot!"

Shinichi rolled his eyes and waited for the police to show up so he and Hattori could continue investigations.

* * *

Inspector Megure actually stopped to rub his eyes when he saw the two of them. "Hattori-kun? Conan-kun? . . .and a murder. Of course. I should have known. Why do you two leave your houses?"

They exchanged looks. The reason for leaving their houses today was because they had been invited to a big gala event where the chances of a member of the Organization that had shrunken him coming was high and they wanted to find more information on them, but the two detectives weren't going to tell the inspector that. Besides, it wasn't like they planned to have people drop dead around them. "It's not our faults!" Shinichi protested instead.

The inspector looked at them with skeptical eyes. "I'm sure the murdered singer will be pleased to know that."

Officer Takagi laughed nervously, though he faked a cough to disguise his laughter when his superior glared at him. Then, he quickly moved onto his report to distract him before the glare could change into anything worse. "The victim is twenty-seven year old Sara Hamilton, who was supposed to sing for tonight's gala. The body was first found by Conan-kun, Hattori-kun, and Anika Roth-san, the owner, who is currently unconscious and receiving medical care."

"Unconscious?"

"She fainted," Shinichi interrupted. "Inspector, you need to question the alibis of everyone, and do a body search for the weapon, which is some kind of strong, thin cord, most likely with a trace of blood on it."

By now, the inspector was used to listening to the genius child when involved with a murder. Grumbling about them never being able to do their job properly without someone butting in, Inspector Megure turned to order Takagi to do exactly that.

"Sara-san wasn't a nice person," Shinichi muttered. "Downright unpleasant, in fact. Lots of people could have had a motive."

"But ya have yer suspicions?"

Shinichi glanced up. "Just three."

He would have expanded and given a proper explanation, but someone tapped his shoulder. "What, Haibara?"

Maybe that came out harsher than he intended. He received a light glare (in her standards, it was light) before she cupped her hands to whisper something to him. "I think that the victim was one of Organization members."

Shinichi stiffened, and Hattori sent him a curious glance. "Why?"

"One of Their presence disappeared," she replied, matter-of-factly. "As she was the only one to have died in the last ten minutes, I naturally came to the conclusion that it was her. No one has left the establishment, yes?"

"What happened ta actin' like a kid?" Hattori muttered. Neither of the shrunken teens answered.

"So who's the other one?"

"I haven't figured it out yet," she replied, fussing with Hattori's hat. It looked pretty odd on her much smaller head. Figured. Hattori's head was inflated with his ego. "But I'll be sure to tell you when I do, and then I'll run for the hills."

"Just give me back my hat before ya do that."

* * *

"Everyone has a rock-solid alibi," Officer Takagi reported to his superior. "Except three people. Anna Wong, Jose Lopez, and Samuel Lewis."

"All foreigners," the inspector noted. "What about the woman that fainted? Roth-san?"

"She's conscious, though she's slightly shocked. Other people have verified her innocence, though. She was always either talking to someone, or running around the gala being a good hostess. The only time she got to speak to a victim, there was someone with her, and when she left, the victim was seen alive by three other people, and she had someone with her while leaving."

"Of course, there is a chance that she planned for that, and used this to make sure she could pull off the murder."

That arrogant, annoying voice. . . ! "Mouri," he greeted. No wonder that poor woman had been murdered. Three of the great body magnets, all together in one building.

Shocking how no one else had been killed, considering their track record together.

"Inspector. As you can see, the club exterior is kept dark. If Roth-san had an accomplice – and, seeing how she is the owner of the Club A chain, any of the workers may have been under her orders – then it is all too easy for her to set up an alibi for either herself, or the actual murderer. It was obviously a joint project, masterminded by the person who would know the schedule best."

"No way!" the idol, Okino Yoko, was there, looking devastated. "Anika-chan would never do such a thing! Mouri-tantei, isn't there any other way the crime could have been committed? By someone else?"

The detective began giving alternate scenarios filled with mostly jealousy and secret lovers rather than actual logic and deductions, each starring some of the guests – though never Yoko-san – acting together as a murderous group willing to kill an innocent singer. And since Mouri wasn't collapsing and going into his sleep induced deductions, Megure deemed it safe to blatantly ignore everything he said.

From a distance, Shinichi scoffed. "The murderer most likely didn't have an accomplice."

"Yeah, it doesn't feel like he or she would. It ain't exactly easy to avoid everyone else, and th' chances of someone you know runnin' into you are pretty high in somethin' like this. Too risky of a plan ta use."

"So high chances of a single murderer, who might or might not have the weapon on their body."

"Let's see if th' police find somethin'."


	4. Tracking Angels

**Swing Low, Sweet Chariot**

**Summary**: "Hattori-kun? Conan-kun? ...and a murder. Of course. I should have known. Why do you two leave your houses?" "It's not our faults!" "I'm sure the murdered singer will be pleased to know that." In which Heiji and Shinichi must solve a murder and clear the name of a visiting phantom thief.

**Pairings**: Hints of Heiji/Kazuha, Shinichi/Ran, and some others.

**A/N:** I own nothing except Anna Wong, Anika Roth, Lady A, Samuel Lewis, Sara Hamilton and Jose Lopez. Bolded words are English. Name comes from the famous choir/rugby song. Also, I write/call Kudo Shinichi/Edogawa Conan Shinichi in this fic - and most likely all of my other fics in the series - but he's still mini. Until I make Ai give him the antidote, anyways. Thanks for warning me, crimsonskyr!

* * *

Questioning people for alibis had been easy enough, even with the large amount of non-Japanese-speaking people and the limited English Inspector Megure and Officer Takagi had between them. Everyone – with the exception of the three singers who were the current suspects – had a perfect alibi, something that couldn't be refuted even with poor mispronunciations, lack of understanding in idioms and culture differences.

Questioning the suspects – two of which could not speak Japanese – to see if they were innocent or not was a bit harder, especially since all three of them denied committing the crime and had a hard time understanding the police's English. Lewis couldn't be the translator, seeing as he was a possible murderer and therefore could tweak the words to corner the other two into a bad situation, and Anika was still shaken up from seeing the corpse. As such, two decent English-speaking people with experience in the police's work and crime volunteered to help out.

It was strange, thinking about Anika's reaction. Screaming, and fainting. That was the reaction most people should have had – the screaming, and only sometimes the fainting – when they unexpectedly saw a dead body. Many people screamed, but this was the first time someone had actually fainted. It occurred to Shinichi that he was just too used to seeing the corpses of murdered victims to even react properly. His average first reaction was to just check if they were really dead, make sure no one left and that the police got to the scene as soon as possible so he could start bossing them around to track down the killer and send the body down to the morgue before it began to stink.

Shaking off that thought, Shinichi began to pay attention as the officers told the searched and weaponless suspects to deal with the extra people in the room.

Lewis, being the only fluent speaker of Japanese, was first. Even if detectives shouldn't have been biased. . . it was a good thing he could defend himself on their terms, because from the look Hattori had, the Osakan didn't particularly feel nice towards him.

"I talked to Anika shortly before going backstage," Lewis began. "She had been talking about Hamilton to the kid over there, and I wanted to talk to her."

"Why?"

Lewis shot Heiji a funny look, but answered. "Because I happen to have what you would call a 'crush' on her."

The atmosphere got slightly awkward after that, and Shinichi was thankful for two things; Anika not being able to translate, and Lewis being able to speak Japanese.

Lewis cleared his throat. "So then she ditched me for the seven-year old boy-"

Hattori at least had the decency to disguise his laugh into a cough. It was badly done, and very transparent, but still.

Lewis continued on as if he hadn't been directly insulted in a supposedly-indirect way. "-and I went backstage to get into costume. That was where I stayed till the curtains went up. Look, isn't there anyone who was working backstage that can't tell you this?"

Inspector Megure shook his head. "No one was in your part of the backstage, except for you three."

He frowned. "Are you sure it wasn't some random person off the street who committed the crime?" he asked. "They could have come in here to rob the place while everyone was partying, and ended up killing Hamilton for something like her being her usual bitchy self before fleeing."

Officer Takagi looked up from his notebook, eager to refute his statement. "Most times, the murderer knows the victims. Also, the back doors were locked, and Club A has strict entrance rules in general, as well as two guards posted at the front door with security cameras. Tonight, especially, if the guest doesn't have an invitation, they can't get in no matter what."

"If there are cameras, can't you just check who went in to murder Hamilton?"

"They're only at the entrance and back exits, and we already went over the footage. No one else left before we came here."

"Meanin' that it's one o' ya three."

The tenor slumped. "Look. I don't have an alibi. But I didn't do it!"

The looks he received ranged from perfect poker face to outright, rudely skeptic. "You don't believe me, huh?"

"That's pretty much what everyone says when they're a suspect, so no," Officer Takagi admitted.

Samuel Lewis ran a hand through his now-thoroughly mussed-up hair.

* * *

Anna Wong was calm, relaxed, and poised. The way she sat, straight and ladylike, made Shinichi wonder if she was posing for some kind of hidden camera. For someone being accused of a crime that they supposedly didn't commit, she was too calm and tranquil.

**"I left Sara Hamilton a minute or two after Anika left with that child,"** she nodded towards him and waited while Hattori translated for the police officers. **"I went to the washroom, and then went to get my costume on."**

"The staffs say that you came a bit later than the others. Why the delay?"

Heiji and Shinichi exchanged looks. They hadn't heard about this.

When they translated, Anna sighed and shot all of them a sympathetic look before opening her mouth to drop a bombshell on their poor male minds. **"I was changing from a pad to a tampon, and then I had a slight problem when-"**

Heiji flailed and fell off his seat. Shinichi did the same, but he had less of a distance to fall, being vertically challenged at the moment.

As it was, the officers understood enough and recognized. . . _that_ word to wince and make faces, not needing any particular translation for that part. They clearly didn't really _want_ it. "_Okay_, I think we get why she took a bit longer than usual," Inspector Megure said, looking anywhere but the extremely composed suspect. He'd been married for a long time, and he still had a hard time with _those_ subjects. Takagi didn't even have that immunity, and his face heated up like a roaring fire.

The slight awkwardness because of Lewis admitting he had a crush on Anika was _nothing_ compared to the extreme discomfort radiating in the air from all the men (and one not-child). The questions were very, very careful now, and it was extremely hard to look at Anna Wong properly.

If she was the murderer, though, that was a pretty good plan. Distract everyone with the extreme uncomfortable subject no normal male wanted to discuss.

According to her words, Anna had gone to the bathroom after leaving Sara – who had been alive and well – and then gone to get changed into her costume. After changing, she had stayed in the curtained-off 'changing room' till the performance.

**"You all changed in stalls backstage**?" Hattori asked, slightly disbelieving.** "You have dressing rooms, don't you?"**

**"It's easier to change into those angel costumes backstage,"** Anna pointed to her wings. **"These are pretty heavy and bulky. I didn't want to walk around in the hallways wearing this anyways. It's bad enough wearing it on stage. I don't like this production. I don't like the storyline, I don't like the song, I don't like the composer, and I didn't like one of my coworkers. No reason to further torture myself by wearing _this_-" **she gestured at her getup.** "-more than I need to. Although, this interview is defeating that purpose."**

**"Why did you accept the job, then?"**

Anna's face was carefully blank.** "For Lady A, of course."**

* * *

Jose Lopez looked like the stereotypical angry husband, only he wasn't the husband of the murdered woman. He was probably the farthest thing from the husband, actually. The farthest thing other than Anna Wong, who had straight out told the police and the detectives that she was rather happy Sara was dead, and then proceeded to give all the reasons just why everyone in their right minds had hated her.

Unlike Anna, Jose was nervous. Angry, nearly.

**"I changed. Then, I went to the bathroom – I'm sure there was a worker who saw me then!"**

Inspector Megure nodded after a few moments of listening to the Japanese version of what he said. "But it was only in passing, and all she identified was the back of your costume."

**"No one else wore it,"** he snapped when Heiji translated. Shinichi squinted closer at Jose's hands. Ink splatters on his right and left fingers. Black ones.

He didn't have those when he'd been drinking.

"But you could have easily slipped off before or after your bathroom break, snuck into Hamilton-san's dressing room, and strangled her to death."

**"With what?"** he demanded when Hattori translated. **"Officer, I don't understand why this is necessary. Yes, it's true Sara and I fought often, but she fought with many people! People didn't like her, and she didn't like people! Ask anyone! You'll have a hard time finding someone who didn't _mind_ her, that's how bad she was!"**

When Hattori translated that, he didn't wait for the inspector to process that before launching into just why it could only be one of the three singers who murdered Sara Hamilton.

Jose cracked his knuckles, making the cops tense, but he only sighed. **"Lady A wouldn't have wanted this to happen,"** he muttered, rubbing his eyes. **"She hates violence. Hates it! Loathes it! To have something like this pop up. . . ."**

A few more minutes, and the last interview was wrapped up. Time to go through their belongings, then.

* * *

None of the singers really had pockets on their winged robe costumes, but their possessions had been left backstage with their clothes. They shouldered past murmuring guests and a few policemen still running around to get there.

Apart from the clothes, Lewis had a cell phone, a wallet filled with some bills and a few credit cards, and a plain handkerchief. He acknowledged that they all belonged to him, and then gone back to pacing and messing up his hair.

Jose Lopez had a wallet with mostly credit cards, a fountain pen filled with black ink (explaining the spots on his hand), a handkerchief, and, of all things, a pair of nail clippers.

**"Why do you have _these_?"** Hattori asked when he saw the nail clippers.

Jose saw what the detective was pointing to, and his face turned sheepish. **"I was cutting my nails before I came here," **he said.** "And then the cab I called got here, so I put them in my pockets without thinking."**

Just absent-minded action, then.

Anna, on the other hand, was revealed to have a purse. Apparently, she liked big purses that looked like they could carry everything but the kitchen sink with her. Inside were an emergency makeup kit, her wallet, a cell phone, a sewing kit, and a plump pouch the size of a book.

**"I feel sorry for the policemen,"** Anna remarked, remarkably straight faced and dry voiced as Officer Takagi opened the pouch to reveal feminine hygiene products. His face heated up all over again.

"**You seem awfully calm for someone who's being questioned and searched for murder,"** Shinichi commented. He avoided the extremely straightforward way that she admitted to it being her time of the month.

Anna glanced down at him. **"And you seem awfully mature for someone your age."**

He shut up and devoted his attention to the search, making mental notes. The sewing kit had a pair of scissors, and some tiny spools of thread, but the cotton was too weak to have been used in a murder. All the spools were new and still wrapped in clear plastic seal, crossing out the possibility of having hidden the weapon by wrapping it around the spools. The makeup kit only held cosmetics.

"Alright, so they don't have it on them. Search the trash cans, all of backstage, the kitchen, everywhere!" Inspector Megure barked.

Shinichi frowned. "Officer Takagi!" he called, waving his arms to catch the man's attention. The waving was mostly just for Anna, who was now picking up the black feathers Jose had been shedding around the room with a slight frown. "I have a question!"

"Yes?"

"Who searched Anna-neechan?"

"Ran-san and Kazuha-san did. At first, she was going to let us do it, but then the two of them volunteered. I'm sure they were thorough."

Daughters of men who was, or had been a police officer some point in their lives, and they hung around detectives most of their time. Shinichi had no doubt about their searching abilities.

Thanking the officer, he walked back to Hattori. One look at his face, and he already guessed what was going through his head.

"You're thinking what I'm thinking, aren't you?"

A grin flickered on the Osakan's mouth. "Yeah. Ya finally caught on, huh?"

Shinichi glowered at him. "But that's only one suspect eliminated. The other two have exactly equal chances."

"Not equal, Kudo," Hattori twiddled his thumbs. "Not equal."

He looked back at Anna, who was now nagging Jose to be more careful with his wings, because if too many feathers fell out, then the wings would be ruined. **"Those are expensive, Jose,"** she chided.

Lopez nodded like a surly child. Anna sighed and went back to picking up a few more feathers. Lewis just kept running a hand through his hair, checking his watch every few minutes or so. He seemed nervous.

"Ya know there's only one reason why th' murderer would have done that."

* * *

Anika blew her nose in the tissue Ran offered her. "Thank you," she said in a miserable voice. Her face was blotchy, and while her mascara was a very nice brand that had the foresight to make their products waterproof, she still looked much worse than she had at the beginning of the gala.

"Are you feeling alright?" Sonoko asked, holding a fancy, non-alcoholic drink with a decorative umbrella in her hands. She sipped at it half-heartedly. The three of them - Sonoko, Kazuha, and herself - had volunteered to keep Roth-san company after she was deemed 'fine, just a bit shaken' by the medic.

The redhead offered her a watery smile that convinced none of them.

"Don't worry," Kazuha gave her an encouraging grin. "Heiji will solve it, and catch th' murderer!"

Anika gave a stifled sob. "What's wrong?" Ran asked, puzzled. Didn't she want to know who it was that killed a person in her club? Unless. . . .

"You know who the murderer is," she realized aloud. "You _know_ the murderer."

"What?" Sonoko raised an eyebrow, while Kazuha put the pieces together herself. Her face lit up with understanding.

The foreigner shook her head. "But all three of the suspects are my friends," she sniffed. "I don't want any of them to be a murderer."

"They're yer _friends_?" Kazuha looked shocked. "All three o' them? Oh, I'm so _sorry_."

"Well, couldn't it have been anyone else?" Sonoko asked. "Maybe some random stranger snuck in, and ended up killing Hamilton-san."

Anika tugged at her right earlobe, careful to not actually touch the black pearl earrings. "There are security cameras at all the entrances," she murmured. "No one suspicious was caught on tape coming in. They're the only ones without alibis."

Ran patted her back, all the while thinking. If she had been in that situation. . . . if three of her friends were the only ones who could have killed someone. . . .

An image of Shinichi came into mind.

A sad smile crept on her face. In that kind of situation, the only thing to do after exhausting every other possibility. . . .

Was to find the murderer amongst them so that the other two could live without having to carry the burden of another's crime.

Anika looked up when Sonoko reached out to squeeze her hand reassuringly. "It's hard when someone close to you is the killer," the Suzuki heiress said quietly. "Ran and I know what it's like. One of our favorite teachers . . . we really looked up to her . . . and she killed two of her coworkers to avenge a student they killed."

Ran remembered that one. Shinichi had given her his deductions through Conan's earring-shaped phone, and it had broken her heart when she had to reveal just how the woman she looked up to killed two people and knocked Sonoko out.

"It hurts, but I think you're strong enough to handle it," Sonoko's voice was unusually gentle.

Anika was quiet, looking down into her lap, but when she looked up again, she seemed much better than she had before. More at peace. "Thank you."


	5. Carry me Home

**Swing Low, Sweet Chariot**

**Summary**: "Hattori-kun? Conan-kun? ...and a murder. Of course. I should have known. Why do you two leave your houses?" "It's not our faults!" "I'm sure the murdered singer will be pleased to know that." In which Heiji and Shinichi must solve a murder and clear the name of a visiting phantom thief.

**Pairings**: Hints of Heiji/Kazuha, Shinichi/Ran, and some others.

**A/N:** I own nothing except Anna Wong, Anika Roth, Lady A, Samuel Lewis, Sara Hamilton and Jose Lopez. Bolded words are English. Name comes from the famous choir/rugby song. Also, I write/call Kudo Shinichi/Edogawa Conan Shinichi in this fic - and most likely all of my other fics in the series - but he's still mini. Until I make Ai give him the antidote, anyways. Thanks for warning me, crimsonskyr!

EDIT:(15/02/2013) Plot hole has been fixed, thank you, mountainelements!

* * *

After searching around the entire club just to make sure that their theory was correct, they regrouped and told Takagi about their information.

"You know who the murderer is?"

Behind Officer Takagi, Inspector Megure rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised. . . ."

Still, even he agreed that their deductions fit after they ran it through for them. "But we need solid evidence, so we'll have ta confront them with this," Hattori said, shoving his hand in his pocket.

"Gather them in the room, please," Shinichi gestured to the dressing room where Sara Hamilton had been murdered. Her body had been removed after the police had taken all the pictures they could and gathered their evidences.

Inspector Megure signalled to the policemen watching over the three suspects, and the officer brought them to the front of the dressing room.

"What's this about?" Lewis looked curious. A bit frazzled, but curious nonetheless. "Is this a normal procedure?"

"For us, yes," Inspector Megure muttered. Lewis looked utterly confused now.

**"We'll speak in English so you all understand us,"** Hattori announced. Shinichi began to mutter the translation in Japanese to the inspector. They had agreed on their roles after they realized that he needed to act more like a kid, especially if a member of the Black Org was somewhere. Shinichi didn't like being a part of inflating Hattori's ego, but safety was the important thing now.

**"A woman was murdered today. Sara Hamilton. She wasn't exactly liked by people-"**

All three of the suspects snorted at what they knew to be a gross understatement.

**"-but that didn't mean she deserved death,"** Heiji's eyes met Anna's. She stared back defiantly. Neither of them was willing to give in, but Heiji had to eventually look away so he could continue. **"And so, we must reveal the murderer. And we ask for your cooperation, because I'm sure Lady A didn't appreciate the murder, and I know you all know this.**

**"Hamilton-han was strangled, with some kind of thin, narrow cord. We assume it was something about the width of maybe earphone wires, but very strong. And we most likely won't know, unless the murderer decides to tell us."**

**"You don't have it."**

**"No. It was flushed down the toilet by the murderer."**

Shinichi noted how the murderer's act had shattered. All of a sudden, their face had gone extremely pale and deathly. All that on a hunch loudly, confidently declared. A part of him was disappointed at this showing of emotions. He had expected more control from someone from the stage.

Inspector Megure and Officer Takagi obviously noticed this sudden reaction as well, but they kept still, keeping their poker face on.

**"The thing is,"** Hattori began again. **"The entire thing was quite well planned. Kill Hamilton-han, get rid of the weapon, and the murderer would have been done with it. She wouldn't have been able to leave any marks on the killer's arms, because her wings would have gotten in the way.**

**"But while she was being strangled, Hamilton-han had been desperate enough to try and reach behind her, trying to grab at her assailant. She didn't reach, but she was able to pull out a few of her feathers. Being white, they showed the blood under her nails all too easily, and marked them as hers.**

**"The murderer picked them up. They probably stepped on them during the murder. Since they most likely didn't know the exact details of forensics they took them all just in case along with the murder weapon to the bathroom, where they chopped up the weapon and flushed it down along with all the feathers.**

**"Or so they thought. Upon coming back to the backstage, they discovered one feather, stained with Hamilton-han's blood stuck onto them. Here was where the problem came in. If the murderer threw it away, they could find it. Who knew what the police could find from the feather? **

**"No way could the murderer go to the bathroom again without some good reason. It's hard, by the way, to think of something foolproof right on the spot. So using the things they had at their disposal, the murderer disguised the feather and hid the leaf in the forest."**

Hattori reached out and pulled up Jose Lopez's hands. His thumbs were still slightly stained with black ink. **"Just how did you get ink stains on _both_ your hands, Lopez-han?"**

Jose narrowed his eyes.** "You're blaming me just because of this? Show me this feather of yours," **he snapped.

**"Can't," **Hattori shrugged.** "We searched the entire club, but we couldn't find it."**

**"See? You have no proof!"**

**"Ah, but Anna-han had already picked all of your feathers up**," he reminded him, and watched as the remaining blood drained from his face.** "Anna-han, would you show us your hands and feathers? The feathers on Hamilton-han's wings were synthetic, and doesn't absorb that kind of ink very well. If you rub at it hard enough, it should come out. Anna-han?"**

Anna was grim-faced. This, both Shinichi and Heiji knew, was someone who wouldn't have given up on her old friend unless there was a greater interference. Something like a personal hero, or a great debt that couldn't be fully paid off no matter what, which was exactly why they had pulled the 'Lady-A-would-have-wanted-this' card at the beginning. She opened her own clenched hands up, and showed them her palm, where there were traces of black ink. **"I wondered where,"** she said quietly after she handed Officer Takagi all of her gathered feathers. **"I could have possibly gotten these, because I didn't remember touching anything like this. Then, when you talked about feathers I remembered how Jose was shedding them so much, and even when it should have been impossible-"**

Her voice caught, and she looked away. Her eyes were considerably shinier than before from unshed tears.

**"You cut up the cord with the nail clippers you brought on _purpose_ and colored the one white feather with ink from your pen," **Hattori concluded. **"And when you saw the chance, you scattered them along with a few more you had pulled out from your wings. You knew that Anna-han would have picked them up, because you knew she had a neat nature after being friends with her for a long time. She would have picked them up and thrown them out for you without knowing that she was getting rid of evidence."**

Samuel Lewis kept shaking his head, but it was more like he was refusing to accept it, rather than not believing. **"Jose,"** he said weakly. **"No, man, it can't be."**

**"No. No, no more. I give up. It was me."**

**"So you admit to killing her?"**

**"I do,"** he nodded. **"But she had it coming for her. Never admitting that there were people other than her who could actually sing, refusing to see that Anna was actually talented. You want to know why you didn't get that role in the musical you wanted to do, Anna? It was because she'd been sleeping with the casting director at the time, and he did whatever she told him to do. There are more examples, but I don't think you want to know. All you need to know is that it was all for the best that she died."**

"He's going to have to come down to the station for some more questioning," Inspector Megure said. Shinichi nodded, and told Lopez what the inspector had said in English.

**"I regret nothing,"** he declared, before walking out of the room with the police.

Lewis gave Anna an awkward hug. **"I'll go with him," **he muttered. **"See if there's any way I can be of some kind of-"** he left the room hurriedly, nearly run over by Anika as she ran into the room.

**"Sorry,"** both of them muttered, and Anika ran to Anna. **"Is it true?"** the redhead demanded.

The Chinese-Canadian woman nodded. **"I'd like to go home now,"** she muttered. Then, she smoothed her already-perfect hair, straightened her dress and walked out of the room with her head held high like a queen.

"Same old Anna," Anika sighed, shaking her head.

Shinichi decided to ask the question that had been bugging him. "Anika-neechan, can I ask you something?"

"Huh? Oh, sure, Conan-kun."

"Why are you acting like you're an imposter?"

Anika Roth blinked. Then she gave a resigned smile. "How'd you figure it out?"

"You were acting suspicious," Shinichi told her. "For someone who had named an entire chain of clubs after a phantom thief, you were unusually willing to be a fan of Kaitou Kid as well as only a lukewarm fan of Lady A."

"Ya were mockin' th' hardcore Lady A fans too," Hattori reminded her. "If namin' th' entire club line – th' first business ya got ta run on yer own – after her wasn't bein' hardcore, I don't know what is."

"Not singing, even when Lady A specifically told all of you to continue on singing."

"And interestin' piece o' info a friend o' mine told me. Th' Roth family was bein' accused o' fraud by 'nother rich financial group two years back. Lady A stole some important files tha' served as evidence against them in court. Not only did th' Roth family win that court, but they made a huge chunk o' profit after their best rivals got knocked out o' th' market. That's too recent for ya ta have forgotten o' repaid that debt."

Shinichi blinked. That tidbit, he hadn't been able to find.

Anika seemed surprised as well. "I thought daddy got the press to shut up on that," she commented. "So you caught me. But why didn't you think I was Lady A?"

Hattori jerked his chin in the general direction of her still-blotchy face. "Yer face is obviously real, an' ya were in that picture. She could have been just some decoy ya hired, but there were other cases where ya were accused o' being Lady A, only ta be proven that ya weren't. I looked it up just now. Unless there's two Lady A's, yer not her."

The redhead clapped. "Fantastic. Just one thing you got wrong; I _am_ a fan of Kaitou Kid. I just _prefer_ Lady A."

"Stop avoiding th' question. Why'd ya do it?"

Anika rolled her eyes around, thinking. "I think the Japanese have this proverb, something about hiding a leaf in a forest."

Both of them exchanged looks. They silently agreed to not tell her about how her friend had used the lesson taught in that very proverb to try and hide the fact that he had murdered someone.

"Most of the members of Songs from the Heart do this, by the way," she added. "We all act a bit off so when the police begin to question people around, fingers get pointed, and there's too much suspects. Enough chaos, and Lady A can get away easier. If they ask why we were acting unusual, we say that we were excited, had too much to drink, were going through tough, stressful times, and they have to move on because they can't really prove anything - except our real identities."

It was actually a really good idea.

"Anyways," Anika extended a hand and shook both of theirs. "Thank you all."

"For what?"

"The police were beginning to consider adding Lady A to the list of suspects. Because, you know, she's a good thief and all, they thought she could sneak in, kill Sara and then leave without a trace. I'm glad she was never accused of murder."

"That wasn't why we solved this case."

She shrugged. "I know. But you still ended up keeping Lady A's reputation untarnished. So don't be surprised if you get some kind of a gift from her in the future. Lady A always repays her debts."

* * *

On the way back to Osaka, Kazuha fell asleep in her seat and ended up leaning against his shoulder.

Heiji could have woken her up. He could have told her that she was drooling, she would have snapped and they'd have gotten into an argument about who was the bigger idiot between the two of them.

But then again, he was pretty tired. Searching for feathers on the ground, going back and forth across Club A and helping carry the drunk idiots back to their cars. . . .

Maybe he'd take a page from Okita's book and catch some shut-eye. He yawned, and rested his head against Kazuha's before falling asleep.

* * *

The moment Gin picked up his phone the agent began to report. _"It's Armagnac. Mimosa's dead."_

"How?"

_"Got herself murdered by a co-worker. I got the information before she died."_

"Good. Bring it to the rendezvous point on the appointed date."

He hung up. Now they needed another contact in there. Idiots, getting themselves killed by things that had nothing to do with the syndicate.

* * *

Somehow, Mouri Kogoro had gotten into (started) this huge drinking contest held by most of the men and some women in an attempt to loosen up the atmosphere, and gotten really drunk. Anika was kind enough to get one of the club workers to drive them back to their house.

"Don't worry," the woman grinned at them when Ran protested. "Roth-san gave me double the amount of money for taxi fare. Really!"

"Yoko-chan~!" the drunk detective slurred. "I love you~!" and then he passed out completely when Ran 'accidently' bopped him on his head with her fist.

"So did you get to see Lady A?" Ran asked him. "That's one of the reasons why you wanted to come to the gala, right?"

"She wasn't there," Shinichi muttered, fiddling with his glasses. Lady A wasn't important right now. Haibara had told him before leaving with the professor that the other member had left as soon as the police had opened the doors and that she hadn't found out who it was. Another dead end. Maybe he could ask Anika to give him the list of guests there. He just had to come up with an excuse that she'd buy first. Somehow he doubted that 'I want to stalk all these people to find a member of a crime organization who made me into a seven-year old' would cut it.

"Well," Ran paused as she yawned. "It's good that you solved the case. Anika-san told me that the police were suspecting Lady A of being the murderer, because she could have easily gotten in with the help of all her fans in the building."

"Phantom thieves-" he yawned, echoing her. "-don't kill."

"Is this the building?" their driver asked, slowing the car down.

"Huh? Oh, yeah!" Ran shook her father. "Dad, we're home!"

"Mrhm."

"Dad!"

"Here, let me help," the driver offered, turning the car off and getting out through her door. She opened the side where Mouri Kogoro was slumped and pulled him out expertly, letting him lean against her. "Would you unlock the door to your home?"

Ran did so, and their driver half-lead, half-carried the drunk detective into their home. "Good night, miss!"

"Thank you! Bye!"

A wave of exhaustion swept over him, and he just managed to change into sleeping clothes and brush his teeth before falling into a deep sleep filled with good dreams where he was with Ran in his normal body, and the Black Organization didn't exist.

* * *

Complete. Sequel will be out soon. Those that subscribed will be alerted.


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